How do these avatars function, do they pull XML data or something? Has anyone looked into making them work again? I love the look of a graphic plus one raw number rather than the statistics driven signature images that exist today..

Avatars can be a BMP, GIF or JPG image.. or other. They have a file name, and you can find their origin by right-clicking on the image and choosing 'properties'.
Likely many of the Avatars and icons from years back are no longer available, due to "downsizing" or not being popular. Any specific Avatar you want can be used, as long as it is in good taste (not offensive), and meets the space requirements for such. Use any trusted hosting site for your image, or upload it to the Forum for access. Use the command string for those residing on our Forum. For those on hosting sites, use their IP address with the appropriate file name.

I do have a huge collection of Avatars and icons.. more than 7 megs, over 1400 files. I could PM any that are needed. Quite a few are from other sites and Web pages, but I think I may have all those original AMD/Intel Avatars. Like collecting stamps!